Terminally Ill Student Fulfills Bucket List Dream of Presenting TV Weather Forecast
BBC
A British student who was told she had 18 months to live after a brain cancer diagnosis lived out her bucket list dream of presenting the BBC's TV weather forecast Monday.
Laura Nuttall, 22, met with BBC North West Tonight forecaster Owain Wyn Evans and read part of the program's evening weather report, a video posted by the BBC on Facebook and shared by the Doing it For Laura fundraising website showed.
"I never thought I'd be standing there doing the weather forecast," Nuttall, who was diagnosed with a form of brain cancer called glioblastoma in October 2018, told The Times Wednesday. "But then again, I never thought I'd be doing a lot of the things I've done in the last couple of years."
"My policy is if someone suggests something then basically I am up for doing it," added Nuttall, who has also met Michelle Obama, fished with actor Paul Whitehouse and spent a day with Manchester police in her bucket list journey since her diagnosis.
"There is so much in the world that I still want to see and do," she added to The Times.
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Video of Nuttall's visit to the BBC studios showed her having her makeup applied and explaining the details of pressure systems to viewers. She also had a nameplate on the screen behind her to identify her as part of the BBC Weather team.
Doing it for Laura Facebook
Her mother, Nicola Nuttall, told The Times that Laura had fulfilled her bucket-list wishes since her diagnosis thanks to people "being very generous with their time" when they hear her story.
"We're just trying to give things for Laura to look forward to and having something to get up for each morning really helps," Nicola, 52, told The Times. "She does of course have bad days, when the chemo takes its toll and she struggles to get out of bed. And when that happens, it's really good to know that there's a great day out coming down the line."
Laura was studying at prestigious King's College London when an optician who examined her eyes "recognized abnormalities." Further tests revealed that she had two brain tumors and "at least six lesions on her brain," according to the Doing it For Laura website.
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"I thought it was something minor. I just started getting headaches for two weeks. I thought it was just a common cold or a bout of headaches," Laura told PEOPLE in 2019 during her first semester at Kings College.
"That's not something you're really prepared to deal with at such a young age," she added. "Being told your life is going to get cut short, it's been emotionally draining for me and my family as well."
Despite undergoing intensive chemotherapy, the student from Lancashire in the north of England returned to her studies at Manchester University and recently graduated with a degree in politics, philosophy and economics, according to The Times.
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"In the last 3 years [Laura has] had: 19 weeks of immunotherapy treatment in Germany, 11 cycles of chemo, 6 rounds of keytruda checkpoint inhibitor, 4 units of blood & 2 further brain surgeries," reads a July 6 update from Nicola on the fundraising website.
"It's been so tough, working through sickness and fatigue and in little air b&b's in Cologne with dodgy WiFi, but she did it and we could not be any prouder of her."
An update made to the Doing it for Laura Facebook page last Monday reads that the audience at Laura's graduation audibly gasped and gave her "a ridiculously long round of applause" when the university's vice chancellor spoke about her.
In addition to reading the weather report for the BBC, Laura also took in the semi-final match of the women's Euro 2022 soccer tournament between England and Sweden Tuesday, which England won 4-0, according to The Times.
Tragically, fewer than three to five percent of people diagnosed with Diffuse Glioblastoma Multiforme survive longer than five years, according to Doing it For Laura website. The median length of survival after diagnosis is 12-15 months and just three months without any treatment, the website added.
The Nuttall family did not immediately respond to PEOPLE's request for comment regarding her experience guest-presenting at the BBC Wednesday.
